Healthy Grief Essay

Grieving is a natural part of life. Everyone grieves at some point in their lives, whether it’s the loss of a beloved 1st pet fish or a loss of a loved one’s life, everyone grieves differently and everyone requires different approaches during the grieving process. This paper will describe the various stages of grief and what to expect with each stage. This paper will also compare and contrast the grieving process as defined by Kubler-Ross, the story of Job while incorporating the Catholic religion. The interaction between joy and the Kubler-Ross model will also be described. In the book of Job, Job is presented as a wealthy, righteous man living somewhere between 2000-1000 B.C. Job suddenly experiences the loss of his family, his possessions, and his health. Job relies on his friends to provide him with comfort. Each stage of grief according to Kubler-Ross is seen within the story of Job. The first stage, denial, is noticed when Job denies the severity of his medical condition. Job’s anger, which is the second stage of grief, is expressed in 7:11-15 â€Å"Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul†. When Job had learned of the death of his 10 children, he tore his clothes and shaved his head in anger. The third stage of grief, which is also known as the bargaining stage, is expressed when Job starts to bargain with God in 9:33-34 â€Å"If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more†. Depression, which is the fourth stage of grief is apparent in 10:18 â€Å"Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me†. Job wishes that he had never have been born so he wouldn’t have to endure the grief and loss which he is experiencing. Acceptance, which is the final stage of grief, is reached after Job stated in (13:15) â€Å"Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.† This versus is a very powerful versus as it is a reminder to be kind and helpful to others although others may not  demonstrate these actions. The Kulber-Ross theory of grief, designed in 1969 by Elisabeth Kubler is most commonly known as the five stages of grief. The five stages of grief represent the stages that on experiences while undergoing grief or similar life events. Ross created this model is describe the stages of grief for people undergoing terminal illness; however, this model can be used for various forms of significant loss such as divorce, loss of job, natural disaster, or loss of a loved one. The first stage describes a temporary state of disbelief called denial. During the denial stage, an individual shuts out actuality and denies anything bad is really happening. The second stage of grief is called bargaining. Bargaining is when an individual realizes that the denial cannot continue and begins to come to terms with reality. The person may become anger and question why is this happening. People may become angry with themselves, loved one, or others. The third stage is of grief is the bargaining stage. During this stage, patients tend to wish that they can postpone or delay their illness or death. People display their spirituality in great detail during this phase. They beg for a higher power to undo their loss and make things better again. It’s during the fourth stage that patients tend to feel depressed about their impending situation. The person begins to disconnect himself/herself of life, love, and affection. Most grieving occurs during this stage after the person realizes that their demise is becoming more inevitable. The last and final stage of grief is known as the acceptance stage. It is during this stage that the person has come to terms with their prognosis and feel as if they can reengage in their daily lives again. People of the Catholic religion, much like most people incorporate the five stages of grief into their lives unnoticeably in times of tragedy. Catholics also experience the most painful form of life, which is losing a loved one. Catholics deny the event, they become angry, they attempt to bargain, they feel depressed, and over time, they learn to accept. Much like Job is thousands and thousands of years ago. My own personal way to grieving is probably much different than the average person. When a loved one dies, I feel sad, but I do not display sadness nor do I cry. Instead, I celebrate them. I celebrate their life and encourage others to do the same. You would have never of guessed I had just lost my Mom when she passed away a few years ago. Instead of enduring the five stages of grief, I bypass the first four stages and fell into the acceptance stage. I accepted that she was too sick to be here on Earth and her passing was actually a beautiful moment at which I no longer saw the pain and struggle in her eyes. I am confident that she felt a sense of relief as well. After researching the stages of grief, the writer of this paper is more aware of the process that is needed to people to spirituality be able to heal after a significant event. During the grief process, people experience many emotions, which is clearly defined in the five stages of grief. To acknowledge that Job encountered grief many, many years ago in the exact same way people do now in modern age is reassuring and comforting. Upon completing research of grief, the information learned has not changed by view of grief; however it has made me more aware of the various ways that people react to grief.

Knowledge Management Importance In Organisations Commerce Essay

In today competitory environment, the cognition direction is significantly become more importance in many administrations. Harmonizing to Chaffey ( 2007, p.486 ) define that cognition direction is the direction of activities and procedures for leveraging cognition to heighten fight through better usage and creative activity of single and corporate cognition resources. Knowledge can be divided into two different types which is expressed cognition and tacit cognition. Therefore, cognition is an of import resource in nowadays modern administration. Consequently, the beginning of cognition is uniqueness and hard imitate by the rivals.Industry analysisIn this age of globalization, cognition acquisition has become the critical agencies for acquisition competitory advantageIn this age of globalization cognitionacquisition has become the critical agencies for deriving competitory advantage, and assuch acquisition has become a important component of cognition acquisition, application andcreative activity ( Longworth and Davies, 1996 ) . The widespread proliferation of cyberspaceengineerings and applications provides unbelievable chances for the bringing ofinstruction and preparation, and with quickly increasing internet use e-learning has nowgo a portable and flexible new method for scholars to derive indispensable cognition ( ching, Lee, factors influence the acceptance of e-learning system )The forces of engineering, globalization and emerging cognitio n economic system are making a revolution that is coercing administrations to seek for new ways like implement cognition direction at the administration in order to vie with the rival. 2 ) Current usage of cognition direction in the Higher instruction industry Nowadays, higher instruction is face challenges in the competitory environment. Therefore, utilizing cognition direction techniques and engineerings in the higher instruction is critical because higher instruction is in the corporate sector. If the higher instruction can implement knowledge direction efficaciously, it can take to better decision-making capablenesss, better faculty members and administrative services, reduced cost and others. ( Kidwell, Linde and Johnson, 2000, p.31 ) Consequently, cognition direction is one of the good direction tools in today ‘s cognition based society.2.1 ) Knowledge direction in Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics and Informatics ( MESI )Harmonizing to Tikhomirova, Gritsenko and Pechenkin ( 2008, p.16 ) province that Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics and Informatics ( MESI ) is one of the taking research and educational Centres in the field of economic sciences, mathematics, statistic, IT and direction wholly over the Russia and Commonwealth Independent State ( CIS ) states. Furthermore, MESI is founded in 1932 and is an advanced educational and scientific composite, with 50 subdivision constitutions, 117 representatives ‘ offices and more than 200 regional spouses in Russia, CIS and other states. In add-on, MESI besides acknowledged as a leader in the development and execution of the latest preparation methods and advanced engineerings of E-learning. Presents, the higher instruction is recognized to be in the cognition concern and bit by bit more open to market place force per unit areas in a similar manner to other concern all over the universe. ( Rowley, 2000, p.325 ) Thus, many instruction administrations is late begun to recognize the importance of those alterations and besides get down to implement the cognition direction to the administration. For case, based on the Tikhomirova, Gritsenko and Pechenkin ( 2008, p.16 ) province that MESI is one of the instruction administration are have several cognition direction initiatives that the University can put to death like through making cognition direction research centres ; making cognition direction subjects, and implement it in a university course of study ; opening cognition direction larning plans on each degree like certification, unmarried man, maestro and PhD degrees ; implementing cognition direction Initiatives in the University ‘s procedures and forming external c onsultancy services for authorities and private administrations. Consequently, all of these enterprises has undertaken by the MESI. Furthermore, â€Å" MESI ‘s aims are to better coaction with authorities and concern ; want to increase quality, effectivity, efficiency and inventions. In add-on, MESI ‘s ends are want to do the University knowledge resources relevant, transparent, systematic, accessible and useable. Finally, the MESI is wanted to accomplish powerful competitory advantages † . ( Tikhomirova, Gritsenko and Pechenkin, 2008, p.16 )2.1.1 ) Quality direction system ( QMS )Harmonizing to CERCO Working Group on Quality ( 2000, p.7 ) define that Quality Management System ( QMS ) as a managing construction, duties, procedures, processs, and direction resources to implement the rules and action lines needed in order to accomplish the quality aims of an administration. Therefore, Tikhomirova, Gritsenko and Pechenkin ( 2008, p.17 ) province that MESI besides hav e implemented the QMS which is certified in conformity with the ISO 9001:2000. The execution of QMS constructs in this University is affecting leading, procedure, systematic attack, client orientation and others. Therefore, all of this QMS constructs are lays the footing for planned cognition direction enterprises to the University. In add-on, this QMS constructs implement by the University is really a system for demands ‘ designation and fulfillment, addresses the demands of internal and external stakeholders, employers, internal interested parties like module and employees and others. Furthermore, QMS besides support the international demand for research and quality instruction. Consequently, from the QMS construct, it seen the cognition is an of import plus for the MESI to leverage throughout the whole university system ( Tikhomirova, Gritsenko and Pechenkin, 2008, p.17 ) Furthermore, there is holding other cognition direction reenforcing elements embedded in go outing QMS attacks which is the MESI ‘s system of Strategic and Operational Management Planning are back uping the cognition plans all over the strategic program, quality policy and ends. ( Tikhomirova, Gritsenko and Pechenkin,2008, p.17 ) This strategic planning of University can be view in appendix 1. Therefore, through use this strategic planning, the MESI conducts it every six months, both an internal and external rating of its scheme, visions and ends, in conformity with an internal Rules of Procedure. Beside this, it is a self-assessment of each chief procedure and end product. Furthermore, this strategic planning besides is a system for monitoring, reexamining and analysis of demands, sentiments and attitudes of employers and end-user like pupil, alumnus pupil and others. ( Tikhomirova, Gritsenko and Pechenkin, 2008, p.17 ) Consequently, the developed service of selling and monito ring is used for this intent. Thus, based on Davidson and Voss ( 2002, p.149 ) province that cognition is understood to be a strategic resource and system are in topographic point to attest that the administration can calculate its hereafter cognition demands. As a consequence, strategic planning is an of import tool for the University and it can supply benefit to the MESI which have betterment the countries of technological substructure, pupil services, plan bringing, institutional and executive committedness, fiscal wellness, and others.2.1.2 ) the cardinal Realms of Knowledge ManagementHarmonizing to Petrides and Nodine ( 2003, p. 10 ) describe that three core organizational resources in the cognition direction is involve procedures, people and engineerings. Hence, this three constituent can take the administration to utilize and portion information more efficaciously.2.1.2.1 ) Procedure, People, TechnologyHowever, harmonizing to Tikhomirova, Gritsenko and Pechenkin ( 2008, p.18 ) province that MESI operates the university ‘s concern activities and maps by using a procedure theoretical account. This procedure theoretical account can see in appendix 2. Through the diagram from appendix 2, the MESI ‘s procedure theoretical account has an proprietor and chiseled ends. In add-on, every basic procedure are described and translated in the ordinance paperss of MESI. Therefore, this is a cognition sharing in the University because each of the module and employee besides can entree the information through the university corporate portal. Therefore, for each procedure, this will affect the people like staff, clients, spouses and rivals. Furthermore, MESI besides continually undertake reengineering as a effect of feedback and analysis. Therefore, this procedure theoretical account can steer the MESI to implement the cognition direction more effectual. Beside this, from the MESI ‘s procedure theoretical account, it can supply the appropriate cognition direction tools and engineerings to the system. So, this is involve the engineering in the university when implement the cognition direction. Consequently, this is the chief thought of a systematic attack to knowledge direction execution is incorporating the cognition direction rhythm to each concern procedure. Last, the cognition momAppendixsAppendix 1: Strategic Planning of UniversityBeginnings: appendix 1 adapted from Natatya Tikhomirova, Anatoly Gritsenko and Alexander Pechenkin ( 2008, p.18 )Appendix 2: MESI procedure theoretical accountBeginnings: appendix 2 adapted from Natatya Tikhomirova, Anatoly Gritsenko and Alexander Pechenkin ( 2008, p.19 )

Formal Buisiness report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Formal Buisiness report - Essay Example BMW’s advertisement strategies have been effectively executed in the past and especially short films with Clive Owen, a Hollywood star, has further leveraged the brand equity of BMW. However, one of recent BMW’s advertisements which appeared in Canada features somewhat inappropriate concept against a greater good. This advertisement features an intimate couple with a picture of BMW’s picture concealing the face of the woman. This may be offensive to some cultures living across Canada and might serve the purpose contrary to the company’s objectives. For this advertisement, a focus group of about 20 to 30 people were given a survey questionnaire to gauge the receptiveness and effectiveness of the ad. A detailed analysis of the advertisement is done in this report along with the results of the research. This would help BMW to get a picture of the effect which this ad might have had on the target. I hope you will consider this report to be the base of any furt her decision which you would take for the betterment of BMW. Sincerely, (Insert Your Name) (Insert Your University) Table of Contents 1LIST OF FIGURES 4 2EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5 3INTRODUCTION 6 4RESEARCH 7 4.1Research Method 7 4.2Question-wise responses and their findings: 8 4.2.1Questions 1 – 2: 8 4.2.2Question 3 and 4 9 4.2.3Question 5 9 4.2.4Question 6 10 4.2.5Question 7 12 4.2.6Question 8 13 4.2.7Question 9 and 10 13 4.2.8Question 11 14 4.2.9Question 12 15 4.2.10Question 13 16 5CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 17 6APPENDIX 18 7BIBLIOGRAPHY 21 Particular Content Page No Exhibit 1 Advertisement of BMW – The ultimate attraction 6 Figure 1 Response of Question 1 of the Survey Questionnaire 8 Figure 2 Response of Question 2 of the Survey Questionnaire 8 Figure 3 Response of Question 3 of the Survey Questionnaire 9 Figure 5 Response of Question 5 of the Survey Questionnaire 9 Figure 6 Response of Question 6 of the Survey Questionnaire 11 Figure 7 Response of Question 7 of the Survey Questionnaire 12 Figure 8 Response of Question 8 of the Survey Questionnaire 13 Figure 9 Response of Question 9 of the Survey Questionnaire 13 Figure 10 Response of Question 10 of the Survey Questionnaire 14 Figure 11 Response of Question 11 of the Survey Questionnaire 14 Figure 12 Response of Question 12 of the Survey Questionnaire 15 Figure 13 Response of Question 13 of the Survey Questionnaire 16 1 LIST OF FIGURES 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The objective of this report is to present a detailed analysis of an advertisement of BMW featured in the market of Canada. The advertisement contains strong and creative execution of an idea of a car – BMW specifically, being â€Å"The Ultimate Attraction†. The execution of the advertisement however, may be inappropriate for some audiences. Some may take offence whereas other s may feel discomfort and some might react positively towards the brand. These mixed feelings are scaled down through research in the form of a survey whic h was conducted online to gauge people’s perception and reaction to the advertisement. The report contains the analysis of the data which was extracted from the research and then, this data is interpreted into results of the ad campaign. 3 INTRODUCTION The brand of BMW revolves around the concept of intimacy which is centered in the ad. This goes against its corporate identity of a brand build on high performance and technology, as explained by Rosengarten, Philipp G, and Christoph B. Stu?rmer.

Global Challenges Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Global Challenges - Research Paper Example Migrants into urban centers believe that there are many job opportunities in the urban centers hence necessitating the need for migration into towns to look for jobs (UN-Habitat, 2008). Secondly, there is a rapid increase in the demand for housing, basic infrastructure and social services. Infrastructures in this case include, water, electricity and sewerage systems. The rapid population increases in slums have resulted to a hindrance in delivering the services in those areas (Sexton, 1979; Levy, 2011). Thirdly, cities are faced with scarcity of food and world energy. The scarcity of food is because of the declining weather conditions affected by the climatic changes in the world. For instance, deforestation in many third world countries have caused decreased levels of rainfall which most farmers rely on for farming in order to supply the cities with food (Levy, 2011). In the near future, the US will face challenges that are different from other countries. Such challenges include how to address the problems resulting declining population growth and aging population, which have resulted to shrinking cities and deterioration in buildings and infrastructure (Levy, 2011). The second challenge will be how to address problems of urban sprawl and preservation of inner city heritage buildings. This arises from the growing demands of housing and facilities due to an emerging wealthy class and from international investors (UN-Habitat,

Fast Food Rulers in China Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Fast Food Rulers in China - Research Paper Example KFC offered food items common in most Chinese restaurants ( Lroche, Kalamas &Huang, 2005). This strategic approach depicts KFC as part of the Chinese community rather than a fast food joint selling low priced westernized food. The company capitalized on small Chinese cities and the establishment of a national business with food joints spread across the country. As a result, the company cut down some of it cost due to economies of scale and distribution of risk. KFC engaged the services of Chinese hotel managers to provide advice on the food tastes. It also established partnership with local food chains and employed more Chinese to operate its emerging branches. So far, the company commands 40% stake in Chinese fast food market with 3300 food outlets in the 650 cities in China. In 1999, KFC developed a distribution chain by building warehouses and managing a fleet of distribution trucks. The trucks were fitted with refrigerators that ensured the foodstuff remain fresh while transporting them from the farm to the restaurants. Though it was an expensive affair, it was vital for the company’s rapid expansion to other cities (Schroder & McEacher, 2005) On the other hand, McDonalds a key rival of KFC holds a 16% stake in the Chinese fast food market. Its approach was far different from it competitor. It chose to stick to its core strategy adopted in the US market. MacDonald menu had no additional dishes that matched the local taste. The layouts of MacDonald’s food outlet depicted a westernized culture. Its target market was the stylish wealthy status-conscious Chinese that sought to imitate the American lifestyle. The McDonald now boasts of 2000 outlets spread across the Chinese cities. It emerged as a global leader in the fast food industry, based on sales, market capitalization, number of employees and revenues (Shen & Xiao, 2014). Its success is attributable to the quality standards the company has maintained globally

The Pros & Cons of In-House Versus Outsourced R&D (Research & Essay

The Pros & Cons of In-House Versus Outsourced R&D (Research & Development) Activity for Technology Firms - Essay Example The first section takes into account the various purposes and definitions of outsourcing as an activity. The primary reasons are explored in detail as to its evolution and factors influencing its security impacts on businesses. The next section outlines the various security issues that may arise in the outsourcing business and its various implications to the business and customer confidence. The primary focus is on secure outsourcing which acts to the safety of businesses and retains the faith and confidence in their services. It acts as a great tool to foster harmonies relationships and ensure business continuity for gaining competitive advantage. The need for state-of-the-art IT solutions worked out and innovations implemented with small losses, outsourcing may be the only way out. It will save from the nightmare of retraining employees (or even hiring new ones) and/or paying for re-equipment (Kenneth, 2007). Information strategy for any organization is purely based on their requirements to manage business and envelope operations into a system which would in turn effectively manage their resources and yield not only profits in the long run but satisfaction to its employees and customers (Laudon, 2002). Rich human capital: Outsourced software vendors produce ‘A’ level business and technological graduates from its most prestigious institutes like Institutes of Management and Institute of Technology. They possess extremely high talent in terms of fundamental knowledge and high level of skills due to their immense strength of aptitude and quantitative ability. The human capital has capability to take up entrepreneurship and make a difference to their economy (Checkland, 2003). Cost efficiency: In Outsourced software vendors, the costs of living and spending habits are quite less and thus the monetary policies are favorable for development at low costs. It makes it favorable for companies to outsource

Polanski & Spielberg Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Polanski & Spielberg - Term Paper Example The directors made films that hit the public both emotionally and dramatically. Their work was loved by all due to their sense of portraying the war and the post events of the war. The Pianist was released in 2002 written by Ronald Harwood and starred by Adrien Brody. The film is a biographical account of a pianist who is a Polish Jew. While the story truly depicts the hardships faced by the Jewish people in the World War II, it keenly takes in account the life of Szpielman being torn apart, his family being taken away from him, and his existence being vanished. Saving Private Ryan is an American film released in 1998. It is a war film based on the invasion of the Normandy in the World War II. The story is written by Robert Rodat who was inspired by the monument he saw which was built for the eight siblings killed in the American civil war. Thus, he wrote a narrative of the siblings in the World War II who had fought against the Germans. The film had received much of the praise from the audience as well has the critics, and won many awards too. These films have been a clear picture of what the World War II brought for the people and how cleanly the directors have pictured it. Comparison of the two films: Both the films have many similarities in their plots and their use of graphics. Since both the films are based on wars, they are more towards the horror aspect. They give the viewers a look of horror, suspense and thriller. The actors in both the films have done an outstanding job, the stories are strong and the use of graphics and screenplay makes the most out of the films. The difference in the films are the ways the directors have created the directed and the stories and how they have taken the stories along to reach the audience and to win their attention. Despite having the same theme, the directors have managed to give a wave of emotions in a different way that the audience of each movie would have felt something different after watching the movie. In the critical aspect, both the films have been immensely appreciated and praised by the critics and the audience and have successfully won the hearts of many. Both the works have been written in a war scene and they show the stories plotted on the World War II and the lives affected at that time. The films are known for their graphics and their depiction of the war scenes. Thus, the scenes of the war which are in most of the two movies can be compared and contrasted with each other. Both movies do not just show some scenes, in fact the whole movie of around two hours is based on a war scenario with different features of the war. There is a clear scene of the war in Saving Private Ryan where the Captain is looking for Ryan and enters the zone of war with his group. While he is searching for Ryan, and even after finding him, they face many of the troubles of the war together. In The Pianist, the scenes are also in the zone of war and show the struggles of the pianist during the war time. In this film, the main focus is made on the pianist with however, lesser scenes of the war than in Saving Private Ryan, but the scenes of the war have been presented pretty well. In the second aspect when we look at both of the films, we can see that not only do they show the similarities in the scenes of war, but they also show a plot on which the emotional lives

Learning model 5 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Learning model 5 - Assignment Example Nearly all moves made by the managers will have political implications. Nearly all barriers to effective to effective performance of agency started out as reforms hence it is important for managers to consider this political history. The political cycles, especially the calendar of election influence organizational changes. Behn asserts that public managers seeking change in their organizations make progress often only through what is called groping along. This is because of political constraints or because of other considerations (pp. 413). Behn argues that, â€Å"change in public organizations often is not so much a matter of rational planning in which a manager considers all courses f action and then settles on a strategy that guides his or her future actions. In this respect, Aristigueta et al. (2012, pp. 413) says that â€Å"instead, a good manager has a very good sense of his objectives but lacks a precise idea of realizing them.† Light carried out a study in twenty six public and nonprofit organizations in which organization had become a way of life. According to the findings of Light, these organizations followed many of the same prescriptions of for organizational change including paying attention to political change (Aristigueta et al., 2012, pp. 413).The recommendations given by Light for creating the freedom to imagine were democratize which required the sifting from centralized rule to a more participatory style, prime organizations among others. Denhardt and Denhardt found that many in public organizations are risk averse. These public organizations like their business organizations counterparts are place a high value on not â€Å"rocking the boat† (Aristigueta et al., 2012, pp. 413). The mangers who are interested in encouraging innovation must take special measures to encourage the employees to value change and even to take risks. Denhardt and Denhardt say that both change and innovations should be valued in order to realize succe ss (Aristigueta et al., 2012, pp. 414). â€Å"Borins reviewed a sample of semifinalists’ applications for the Ford Foundations-Kennedy School of Government state and local government innovation awards. According to the findings of Borins, a large portion of the innovation that had occurred was due to the initiation by public servants at the middle management level or on the front line. It is on this basis that Aristigueta et al. (2012, pp. 414) claim that â€Å"Borins argued that as the public organizations devolved authority and responsibility through the organization, they are likely to experience even more innovation.† Borins wrote, â€Å"Politicians initiate in times of crisis, agency head when they take over the reins or in an organizational change context and middle-level and frontline public servants develop innovative responses as needed to solve internal problems or take advantage of opportunities† (Aristigueta et al., 2012, pp. 414). 2. Describe four key insights for working with the media? Under what condition/situation is it most useful to use (a) television, (b) print, (c) on-line, (d) radio, and (e) press conferences? A significant and increasing part of success of any particular public organization will depend on the effectiveness of its members in working with others. They include the citizens, other public agencies, the governing body, private and nonprofit groups and associations and the media

How are convergence and interactivity defined in new media studies Essay

How are convergence and interactivity defined in new media studies Using examples, critically evaluate these concepts in relation to those of remediation and intra-activity - Essay Example product of convergence between â€Å"old† and â€Å"new† media through â€Å"remediation,† which they examined in their book, Remediation: Understanding New Media. This essay aims to study how convergence and interactivity are defined in new media studies. Through several examples and definitions, it critically evaluates these concepts in relation to remediation and intra-activity. According to new media scholars, convergence is defined through technological convergence, the lens of consumer agency (Lister et al., 2009: 48; Suchman, 2007), cultural/system/corporate convergences (Jenkins, 2008; Murdoch, 2000), and remediation (Bolter and Grusin, 2000), while interactivity has been defined as a cause, enabler, and result of convergence (Murdoch, 2000; Manovich, 2001); however, the â€Å"myth of interactivity† (Manovich, 2001: 74) and the process of inter-activity (Barad, 2007) criticise the intuitive and interactive notions of new media interactivity and con vergence (Hay and Couldry, 2011). Before convergence is further understood, the meaning of new media must be explored first because it shapes the philosophical conceptualisation of convergence. One of the common definitions of new media is the interaction between old and modern media, especially computers, mobile information and telecommunication devices, and the Internet. New media is more complex and varied than the use of current web and mobile technology interfaces, nonetheless. In the article, â€Å"How Should We Read New Media and New Technologies?† Gà ¶kà §ek (2011) cautioned people in seeing new media as a single and homogenous object, when it is composed of a â€Å"...collection of objects which should be analysed economically, socially, culturally, politically, philosophically, theoretically and technologically† (71). He resisted separating new media from its social context, as well as bundling it into a simplistic view of networked and interactive modern technological systems. Manovich (20 01), in The Language

Introduction How does money become contaminated with cocaine Essay

Introduction How does money become contaminated with cocaine - Essay Example o the fact that cocaine is snorted from rolled-up bills, money recovered on the drugs trade from police raids is often contaminated with cocaine heavily. Tainted bills put into the counting machines also contaminates money. Gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS) is a technique in which a GC is coupled to a MS to separate, recognize, and quantify complex chemical mixtures. Vaporization of the sample solution takes place after it is injected into the inlet of GC. The sample solution sweeps by a carrier gas onto a chromatographic column. Flowing of the sample through the column causes separation of the compounds consisting of the required mixture by virtue of their interaction with the carrier gas and the column’s coating. The column’s latter part passes from a heated line of transfer and finishes at the ion source entrance. This is where the compounds are changed into ions. A mass analyzer fulfills the purpose of separating the ions that are positively charged. After separating, the ions enter a detector which sends information to a computer for visual

Modern Family Essay Example for Free

Modern Family Essay Modern Family is a documentary-style comedy about three branches of the extended Pritchett family: Dad Jay has married a younger woman and is now raising a teenage stepson; his daughter Claire has a husband and three kids of her own; and his gay son Mitchell has just adopted a Vietnamese baby with his partner. Modern Family premiered on ABC in September 2009 as part of the networks new Wednesday comedy lineup, and was immediately met with positive reviews and strong ratings, becoming the breakout show of the night. Modern Family was created and is executive-produced by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, who worked together as writers and producers on Frasier, and co-created the short-lived sitcom Back to You; Levitan was also the creator of Just Shoot Me. This investigation will highlight the key aspects which has made Modern Family a very likable program over the last few years. the way in how the show appeals to viewers will be discussed as well as the values and attitudes of society are re? ected through the main characters. I Will also indicate some of the controls and constraints that Modern Family has to deal with in order to make their show successful and appropriate. Also featured will be the discussion of some of the obvious stereotypes which the show portrays and the impact of Modern Family on Todays society. But to be able to understand all these aspects, you will need to familiarise yourself with the main characters ? rst. Characters Jay Pritchett: The father of Claire and Mitchell, husband of Gloria, grandfather of Lily, Luke, Alex, and Haley, and the stepfather of Manny. He is the owner of a construction ? rm and is presumably the wealthiest family member. Jay has a dry and sarcastic sense of humor. Like both his son and daughter, Jay is generally more realistic, mild mannered, and sensible than his partner, Gloria, who is unashamed of the fact Jay is many years her senior. A recurring plot involves Jays relationship with his son Mitchell, which became more complicated due to Jays reaction to Mitchells sexual orientation. Gloria Pritchett: Jays wife and Mannys mother. She is from a small village in Columbia. She is a very loving wife and mother despite the age difference between her and her husband. Her voluptuous ? gure and overall beauty is often remarked or noticed by other characters on the show. One of her most distinctive traits is her very thick Colombian accent, which sometimes leads her to mispronounce English words, such as ultimatum as old-tomato and earrings as hair-rings. She often supports Manny when Jay tries to tell him to be less sensitive or hide his cultural background. Manny Delgado: Glorias 14-year-old son from her ? rst marriage. He is very outgoing and not the least bit self-conscious. He is very intelligent, mature and intuitive for his age and is often shown doing adult-like things, such as having conversations with Claire about her marriage and kids, and drinking coffee. He has inherited his mothers passion for life, though Gloria has also said, Manny is passionate, just like his father. This causes Manny to be very romantic. Manny is not afraid to take chances, leading him to ask out older girls, and develop a crush on Haley. Phil Dunphy: Claires husband of 20 years who sees himself as the cool dad. He dotes on his wife Claire and constantly tries to ? nd ways to bond with his three kids. He is seen as very competitive, one example being his nature of always beating his son at basketball. He has a very juvenile attitude, and is referred to by Claire as the kid [shes] married to. He uses a parenting method that he calls peerenting, which is a combination of talking like a peer but acting like a parent. He is a real estate agent who is very con? dent in his work, once saying I could sell a fur coat to an Eskimo. Claire Dunphy: the daughter of Jay, Mitchells older sister, and the helicopter soccer mom of the Dunphy family and its three very different kids. She was once a wild-child who made a lot of mistakes over the years, and she is fearful that her children could make the same mistakes, especially her oldest daughter, Haley. She is often exhausted from stress created by her family but is still a loving mother. When it comes to her kids she has dif? culty controlling Haleys independence and irresponsibility, Alexs manipulative nature, and Lukes lack of common sense. She also gets annoyed with her husband, Phil, constantly. Claire is a very competitive person, much like her husband, and is portrayed with a personality that causes her to freak out easily, and get angry. She is very strict about a clean house. She is seen as an experienced parent by Cameron and Mitchell, so she is called upon for her parenting advice Haley Dunphy: the daughter of Claire and Phil, who is portrayed as the stereotypical teenager who is often embarrassed by the presence of her parents. Haley is 15 at the beginning of the series, and is a freshman in college as of Season 4. Haley is depicted as being a bit of a bimbo, who focuses more on social status than studies. She is a little naive, especially when it comes to arguing with her parents. She is concerned about her popularity at school, as well as her social and sexual life, which contributes to her being embarrassed by her parents. Alex Dunphy: the 15-year-old daughter of Claire and Phil, and also the most erudite and intelligent of the three siblings. She is very bright and cares much more about her studies than friends/social life and boys. As the middle child to a shallow big sister and a goofy younger brother, she enjoys messing with them when they are rude to her, which is fairly often. Often taking advantage of their naivete by fooling them into believing unrealistic things, she at one time convinced Haley and Luke that they could charge electronics by rubbing the battery on their heads (Haley) and putting it in their mouths (Luke). She, as a stereotypical precocious kid, displays a sense of superiority because of her erudition, constantly putting her accomplishments on display and demanding recognition for them. Luke Dunphy: Phil and Claire? s 14-year-old son, who is often doing his own thing. At times, he can be a troublemaker, once shooting his sister with a toy gun and getting into a ? ht with Manny at school. Luke is playful, very innocent and does not always understand the repercussions of his actions, like most children; he once announced at a family gathering that his mom thought her dads new wife was a gold digger, although he misheard it as coal digger. Mitchell Pritchett: Also referred to as Mitch, is Jays son, Claires younger brother, Luke, Alex and Haleys uncle, one of Lilys fathers, and partner of eight years to Cameron. He is a low-key, mild-mannered person. At most times he is the exact opposite of Cameron which usually causes disagreements. Cameron acts as a counterbalance to Mitchells uptight, worrying ways. He usually responds to homophobia (whether real or perceived) by giving speeches. Because of his mild-mannered, uptight nature, he is sometimes embarrassed by Camerons ? amboyance. Cameron Tucker: Also referred to as Cam, is Mitchells partner of eight years, and one of Lilys fathers, who has a very big dramatic personality. His bubbly outgoing personality contrasts to Mitchells uptight manner, which causes them to have opposing character traits. Cameron was born on February 29, 1972 and grew up on a farm in Missouri. Lilly Tucker-Pritchett: the adopted Vietnamese daughter of Cameron and Mitchell. When she was introduced to the family, they accepted her with open arms, although Mitchell originally wanted to wait to tell them about her. She is at times doing activities with both of her fathers but remains with Cam at home while Mitchell works. How Does It Appeal? A key aspect of the show? s appeal is the similarities people ? nd between the extended family and their own family. Some characters from the show are Phil Dunphy, Claire Dunphy, Jay Pritchett, Gloria Pritchett, Mitchell Pritchett, and Cam Tucker. There are many other characters that make up this family, which make for much more diversity. The dynamic between these different immediate families and their values (including traditional, gay, straight, and multicultural) are what gives Modern Family its large demographic. The diversity of the Pritchetts helps reach a large audience. The ? rst part of this family is the Pritchett-Delgado family. This consists of Jay, the family patriarch, Gloria, the younger second wife, and Manny, her son. The fun part in watching this family is the culture clash between Jay and Gloria. Gloria and Manny are Hispanic, while Jay is white. It is interesting as they try to make sure that Manny gets a combination of both cultures in his life. Next in this family is the Dunphy family. This has Claire, Jay? s daughter and mother of three, and Phil, Claire? s fun husband. Their children are also in the show. First is Haley, the epitome of some teenage girls who seem to only care about their social lives as opposed to spending time with their family. Second is Alex, the smart child and Haley? s opposite. Last is Luke, the youngest and most rambunctious of the three. He is very close to Manny. The Dunphy? s are a very traditional family, but has had some of the more memorable moments in the show. Some of them come from Phil, who is known for having a very fun sense of humor. Finally there is the Pritchett-Ticker family. This is made up of Mitchell, Jay? s gay son and Claire? s younger brother, Cam, his partner, and Lily, their adoptive daughter from Vietnam. It is fun to watch their family and see how different they are from the other two parts of the family. It? s also important because it helps to put the similarities into perspective for many viewers, and that is very valuable these days. Stereotypes Stereotypes are an inevitable part of modern culture. They are standardized and simpli? ed views of groups and minorities based on prior assumptions. â€Å"Modern Family† constantly utilises and plays with the notions of Stereotypes. â€Å"Modern Family† attempts to create a new stereotype by conforming and altering old stereotypes. There is Jay, the Grandfather who remarried to a beautiful, busty Colombian woman Gloria and her son, Manny. Jay? s daughter, Claire, married to Phil, who have 3 children, Haley, Alex and Luke. Finally, Jay? s on Mitchell has an adopted Vietnamese daughter with boyfriend Cameron. The entire program works by challenging and changing stereotypes, in particular that of Gay parents, Cam and Mitch. Cameron and Mitchell are, in a way, a stereotypical gay couple. However, the humour and the message is portrayed through their confrontation of that stereotype. In one episode, they are confronted with the notion that one of them in the couple is â€Å"the woman. † This stereotypical view, that society is asking them to conform to, forces not only a humorous situation, but also challenges the characters? Gender and Identity. The show cleverly alters the ideas of stereotypes, and plays to into them, but also puts â€Å"name to a face† as it were. Stereotypes are not necessarily formed solely on against minorities, and this show challenges every one. Each character is a â€Å"stereotype† in their own right – be that â€Å"the dumb socialite,† or â€Å"the only child† or â€Å"the loud Colombian woman†. In season 4 there is an episode titled â€Å"Fulgencio† Which con? rms the perception that Latinos working in America are poor and struggle for money but still work very hard. Gloria? family comes to visit the new born baby in the family and the Columbian family endeavors the entire episode to clearing the house, especially Gloria? s sister. it is a positive representation of Latinos because they want to work even if they are on a holiday. But the beauty and hilarity of Modern Family is that each character confronts each of their stereotypes and we, as an audience, see that there is a lot more than meets the eye. Instead of simply accepting some of these stereotypes, Modern Family challenges some of these and in doing so creates a new opinion on the viewers Controls and Constraints There are many controls and constraints that will affect any media production, and Modern Family is no exception. Time: Time is one of the main factors that affects the production. Each episode is meant to run for approximately 20-23 minutes excluding ad-breaks. This means that the group of people who are putting together an episode, must avoid making a very long plot and address the main issue of the episode almost immediately. Another constraint of the show is its budget. Budget: The budget of any program is an outline of how much that production will cost, or how much the director is willing to spend. In its ? st three seasons. There has been episodes ? lmed in Hawaii, and a ranch. These episodes were have been ? lmed in these locations and not a studio with a backdrop of that location. This would have possibly meant that the budget for those 2 episodes would have been greater than some of their other episodes. It is also rumored that the ABC is planning to ? lm a future episode in Columbia in which the viewers will be introduced to Gloria Pritchett? s family. Taking into account the budget of a normal episode, and adding to that international ? ights for the cast and crew, this could very well be the most expensive episode yet. Rating/Audience: One of the most important controls and constraints which affect a media production, is the audience and their expectations. The producers of the show will give a classi? cation or rating so that viewers have some idea of what to expect. Modern Family has a rating of PG13. A PG-rated motion picture should be investigated by parents before they let their younger children attend. The PG rating indicates, in the view of the Rating Board, that parents may consider some material unsuitable for their children, and parents should make that decision. The more mature themes in some PG-rated motion pictures may call for parental guidance. There may be some profanity and some depictions of violence or brief nudity. However, these elements are not deemed so intense as to require that parents be strongly cautioned beyond the suggestion of parental guidance. There is no drug use content in a PG-rated motion picture. Since people under the age of 13 are still likely to watch the show, The writers of an episode must be very careful about any potential jokes that might affect a child. E. g. Modern Family is not allowed to make a joke about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or the tooth fairy not existing because a young person watching the show who believed they existed could end up being very upset. An example of this is from an episode from season 1 when Cameron and Mitchell take their adopted daughter Lilly to go an see Santa Claus at the local mall. The reason all types of ? lm media have these ratings, is to protect the viewer from seeing something they might not want to see. Values and Attitudes Re? ected Through Characters In mainstream media, there seems to be different views on gay marriage, but it seems to be slightly more in favour of accepting the life choices made by these people. In Modern Family, there is a gay couple called Cameron and Mitchell. The way that they positively re? ect the values and attitudes of society is the fact that they are very open about being gay. Another way it is positively re? ected is through the other main characters. They all seem to be very accepting even the Patriarch of the family Jay Pritchett, he accepts his sons choice even though he is uncomfortable with it. In one of the early episodes of season 2, the couple shared a kiss which pleased the audience. Ultimately, then, the show re? ects the experiences and insecurities of its creators and assumed audience, middleclass, middle-aged straight white men. Also in its Pilot episode, Cam and Mitch announce to the family that they have adopted a baby from Vietnam and the whole family (Including Mictchell? s homophobic father Jay) are very accepting of their choice. It reassures them that being tolerant is as good as being inclusive and that heterosexual white families with shrill stay-at-home wives are the norm. Its exploration of the pressures of feminine ideals is considerably less sympathetic meaning that Phil? s wife Claire Dunphy is arguably the least likable character, and story lines have included three women getting their period at the same time and going crazy, and ? ery Latina Gloria needing to be chaperoned because her pregnancy brain makes her too forgetful to function. Modern Family is one of very few to feature main characters who are gay (one of whom is played by a character who is actually gay outside of the production) and people of color, and it shows Cam and Mitch to be caring, capable parents. t challenges some of the values and attitudes which are evident, and the fact that Modern Family presents this unit in such a non-threatening way may be the key to its acceptance. Impact On Society Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Casted as Mitchell Pritchett) said that Modern Family might be doing a lot to change the views on gay marriage. The actor said he has had several people approach him and remark how the show has had an impact their lives and their views. Its impossible to measure how wide the impact is, but the fact that even one person changed their mind says a lot about the depth of the show. Modern Family is hardly the ? rst show to feature gay characters. However, it is one of the ? rst that doesnt really make an issue out of it. In fact, it is easy to forget that Cameron and Mitchell are a gay couple. There are no political statements or agendas. They are just two people living their lives. The fact that it has affected the views of other people indicates that it is a very important show. It takes something special to alter the mindset of an individual. This show ? ts the bill. They keep doing what they do. Modern Family shouldnt try to change the world. However, if they change a few minds while carrying on as normal then there is nothing wrong with that. Modern Family has also made people who watch the show feel better about themselves because viewers now know that there own family isn? t the only family who has troubles. It is happening all around them. This helps us to understand that Modern family is one of the most realistic television sitcoms going around at the moment. Conclusion It is quite evident that Modern family has had an impact on todays society in a positive way along with providing the viewers with plenty of laughs along the way. For people to want watch a program and understand some of the meaning it constructs, then the show must appeal to the viewer in the ? rst place, and Modern Family does this by creating a storyline that most people can generally relate to. Once people become immersed in the show they start to pick up some of the stereotypes that are evident, e. g. Gay couple, loud South Americans etc. Because we relate with the characters, we feel inclined to display the same values and attitudes that the characters do which is respecting people even if they? re gay or of a different nationality. This leads to its impact on society which is without a doubt a positive one. Perhaps Modern Family is changing the views towards gay marriage and it is better that they? re doing it in a way where people can watch a television program that people can enjoy, but also learn from it. It is amazing to consider how successful a TV show can be due to the controls and constraints it faces, and Modern Family perfects it.

Research Methodology on Employee Satisfaction

Research Methodology on Employee Satisfaction Employee satisfaction is a concept gauging how content the workforce is with their work and the workplaces environment. Hence Employee Dissatisfaction occurs when the workforce becomes unhappy with these aspects of their job, which can lead to negative impacts in the business, such as decreased motivation and declines in productivity, as well as increased labor turnover common problems that occur in most businesses, regardless if theyre small entrepreneurships or large corporations. We have selected to study specific events in HPs corporate history; specifically: the reduction of wage rates, multiple employee redundancies, sexual harassment and MAs (Mergers and Acquisitions). Dividing these issues up into four separate reports, we have attempted to analyze the correlations between HPs different corporate issues and their relation to employee dissatisfaction, by using external sources of information (such as news articles based on the relevant issue and applicable Human Resource theories) and knowledge to support our findings. After analyzing these issues, we will conclude our findings into a summarized statement evaluating employee dissatisfaction present in HP. We will then present collective solutions that can be implemented to help alleviate HP of similar problems if they should ever show up in the future once again. Analysis/Discussion In order to evaluate each problem, the implications of each issue on HP must be discussed in detail. Across-the-board pay cuts and salary adjustments that incensed employees in 2009 We dont know what were going to do. We dont know, the man told NBCDFW, as tears streamed from his eyes. (Mackilwain, 2009) HP chairman and CEO Mark Hurd announced that they would reduce base pay and some benefits across the company in the wake of disappointing earnings. As for the fiscal first quarter 2009 results, HPs earnings were $1.9 billion, or $0.75 earnings per share, down from $2.1 billion, or $0.80 earnings per share compared to the same period last year. Starting with a reduction in his own salary by 20%, followed by senior executives who would take a drop between ten and fifteen percent, regular employees 5 percent and exempt employees 2.5 percent. All this in reaction to a 13.5 percent fall in the companys first quarter profit. (Dubie, 2009) Why did HP executives make this salary adjustment while they all know this would incense employees? Before answering this question, there are some basic facts one should consider. The recent recession of our decade has resulted in a sharp drop in international trade, and unemployment reached 9.2% by the end of 2009. The average salary of HP is about $62,000 (before salary adjustment), which is higher than that of others such as Dell, Apple and Cisco. These factors enforced employees continuance commitment, which encouraged them to stay with HP based on the perceived costs of leaving the organization. Another factor that could relieve employees dissatisfaction is the broadness and equity of the salary adjustment. Since the salary-cutting was due to the unexpected decrease in net profit, hence, as long as the procedure of salary adjustment was made fairly and objectively, and in accord with employees perception as much as possible, employees might not be dissatisfied when they compare themselves with co-workers inside HP (Self-Inside Comparison). HPs such across-broad cut is basically a result of Profit-Sharing Plans in which the employer shares profits with employees based on a predetermined formula. Similarly, an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) is another adoptable option to associate companys profit with salary, and give employees a sense of ownership through ESOP. The next solution is to develop a flexible benefit package to allow each employee to put together a benefits package individually tailored to his or her own needs and situation. Moreover, another way to adjust pay structure is to use bonus. Unlike Profit-Sharing Plan, bonus reward employees for recent performance rather than historical performance. Which one is the best for salary adjustment? As mentioned before, the world was still digging itself out of economic collapse in 2009, price-earning to ratio had yet to drop as low as previous recession, therefore the ESOP is less attractive since people were recognizing the reality of the weak performance during slumping economic. Hence, I would recommend a combined salary adjustment includes bonus and benefit package. Based on the diversity of cultures, values, ages, personalities and personal situations, HP should design various benefit packages to fit into employees needs. There are three types of benefits plans: modular plans, core-plus plans, and flexible spending accounts. In order to make benefits plans fit into employees need, managers should particularly communicate with employees from different regions, age-ranges, and departments to acquire what employees need most according to Maslows Hierarchy of Needs Theory. As for bonus, managers need to set a base pay; this new base pay should be lower than prior one. Bonuses are designed to award recent performance rather historical performance, and only applied to individuals. Moreover, the process of awarding must entails balancing internal equity and external equity. Allegations of sexual harassment and improper business conduct that exhibited a profound lack of judgment by top executives Be it an entry level employee or for that matter the CEO, violation of business conduct policies can lead to serious consequences. The recent HP sexual harassment scandal serves a perfect demonstration. Mark Hurd who had served as HPs CEO for the last five years resigned at the Boards request after an investigation concluding inappropriate behaviour that had violated HPs behavioural standards. While HP did not find any facts that supported the sexual harassment complaint in general, they revealed that the Board would not tolerate any business misconduct. For HP, what began as an investigation in response sexual harassment complaint by a contractor ended with the companys CEO resigning from his post. Sexual harassment is a crippling reality in the work place the effects of which ravage not only the victim and the alleged harasser, but the fellow employees and the organisation as a whole. The direct impacts of this scandal were seen through the drastic drop in share value of 8% immediately after Hurd resigned. Yet what surfaces as an important issue is the response of the HP employees to this situation. In response to Hurds resignation many employees revealed happiness over him leaving the company making statements like the tyrant is gone or Mark Turd. (Golijan, 2010) What do such allegations draw out? These allegations prove that the HP employees have been dissatisfied in long and an event like this only triggers their emotions to be revealed. In the first place, any event of such a controversy threatens employee in the workplace. As the Maslows hierarchy of needs suggest an individuals elementary needs includes safety and security at work. Witnessing such an improper business conduct by the top executive himself certainly affects employees within all levels of the workforce. The employees would then begin viewing their peers and superiors with disbelief. Such misunderstanding and lack of trust has a great impact on the formation of long term relationships at work. Furthermore, such controversies lead to people feeling uncomfortable from associating themselves with the organisation. As Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies Inc. noted: The scandals do impact peoples impression on the company,. A reduced company morale not only means the possibility of a high labour turnover but also the difficulty that HP would face in attracting good quality employees. A second impact that this scandal had was the emergence of a new leader for HP. Hurd is now replaced with Leo Apethekar. For HP employees who had already faced a rough time, change in leadership brings forth another new challenge, for a change in leadership also means a change in the overall organisational culture. In response to the tarnished companys image, employees get disconnected from the top management leading to the creation of a them and us culture in the workplace. An essential role for the new leader is therefore to regain the trust which could be facilitated by adopting a more Charismatic leadership style and the same time enforcing ethical conduct. What lead to Mark Hurd Scandal being so detrimental, was that he did not himself comply to the business standards that he created Further, hypocrisy is one of the most destructive elements in an organisation. It is important for executives to set the tone of behaviour before they expect the same from their employees. The Hp sexual harassment scandal is therefore an important lesson that reflects upon the significance of the conduct of leaders. The profound impact that this scandal has had on the employee level of dissatisfaction leading to a possible feeling of insecurity in the workplace is an important issue to consider. What happened in the case if Mark Hurd, has been principally attributed to not defining the behavioural standards appropriately. We believe that apart from only setting quantitative clauses, it is important to define moral clauses in the conduct as well. Lastly the most important lesson to learn from this scandal is that if an organisation aspires to achieve maximum productivity from its employees they must make them feel comfortable in the workplace. At all times employees must be assured that they will be heard to. Setting up an effective system to address employee grievances is probably the best solution to handling immediate problems and help them from blowing up to create a major controversy/scandal for the organisation. Enormous layoffs, e.g., 15,000 in 2002, 14,000 in 2005, 24,000 in 2008, and most recently (in June, 2010) 9,000. HP is facing a major problem involving layoffs. Due to several reasons, HP has laid off over fifty thousand employees in the last 8 years. For example, most recently, HP laid off nine thousand employees in order to consolidate data centres at an expected cost of $1 billion. (Sherman, 2010) These reoccurring layoffs trouble employees in many ways but the main aspect that should be taken into account is the effect this will have on employee dissatisfaction. Employee dissatisfaction can instigate severe ramifications for the company because how the employees work affects how well the company does in terms of success. Job security is something that the average employee cherishes. When an employees job is secure, there is a feeling of safety and this usually leads to more confidence and higher productivity. But in this case, job security is not something that the employees hold. Due to the multiple layoffs that occur in such short time periods, employees would feel that their jobs are not safe at all. How does this effect motivation? Maslows Hierarchy of Needs can be applied to this situation. Maslow developed a hierarchy of needs with the levels: physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization. His theory was when one stage of the hierarchy was complete and fulfilled by the employee; the next need on the hierarchy becomes dominant. So when this motivational theory is applied to the situation at hand, it is clear that the employees cannot pass the safety needs stage in the hierarchy. They are striving to achieve job security but cannot due to the consistent layoffs. So therefore, accor ding to the theory, employees cannot go on to satisfy social, esteem and self-actualization needs and this slows down progress in the company. This situation also fits into the motivation-hygiene theory. This theory relates intrinsic factors to job satisfaction and extrinsic factors with dissatisfaction. Job security is the issue here and it is an extrinsic factor, and therefore, dissatisfies employees. The hygiene factors are not being taken care of by HP. This obviously hinders performance of the employees. How can HP resolve some of the employee dissatisfaction problems that they have? One solution is that they can try and find another way to cut costs, other than making employees redundant time and time again. They could reduce wages of employees, or cut salaries from higher managers, but it can be argued that this will also lead to an increased level of employee dissatisfaction, depending on how the employees are motivated. However, if HP find it essential and most efficient to lay off employees to cut or cover costs, then the company can keep current employees motivated by making the work environment more relaxed. This could help calm down the employees and reduce dissatisfaction (another motivation-hygiene theory concept). This will not necessarily motivate employees, but it will reduce dissatisfaction. Also, in order to prevent further dissatisfaction, HP could cut down on other possible extrinsic factors that cause dissatisfaction. For example, supervisors could start acting friendlier towards employees or any form of strict supervision and punishment can be abandoned. The continuous layoffs create a resistance to change in employees as many aspects of the company changes when massive layoffs occur. To overcome the resistance to change, HP could help employees find logic in why these massive layoffs have occurred. Employees will still have security issues, but once they have all the reasons for change and there is no ambiguity, the environment would be more relaxed and any unnerving rumours floating around in the grapevine would be abolished. This could reduce dissatisfaction of the employees slightly. A risky merger (with Compaq) that would create a bloated, vulnerable company anchored on the manufacture of commodity products at little or no profit. Business mergers occur when two firms combine together to form a new firm. Many reasons are associated with mergers the most common ones including potential Economies of Scale, increased market share, and so on. But what is less regarded by higher management levels in organizations is the impact on mergers on the overall workforce, and the deteriorating affects a merger can have on remaining labour. This report will address the human resource issues emerging from the merger of Compaq with Hewlett Packard (HP). There are multiple causes for negativity in the workforce after an MA, some including increased centralization in the organizations structure and loss of organizational culture. Centralization occurs when decision-making power is centered at one point in the company normally towards the higher levels of hierarchy (senior managers). This cuts off communication to lower levels of the organization, which can decrease the amount of communication flowing through the chain of command in the business and hence contribute to increased uncertainty in the workforce (Kusstatscher,2005 ). After this, once a merger takes place there tends to be a loss of previously accepted culture from the prior-merged firm. Employees who identified more so with the businesss previous culture will likely become more isolated and secluded upon the merger where there can be a new culture imposed on them due to the presence of another business. This can trigger a loss of identity for employees, which may alter their perception of the business that they work in, and will likely also increase the amount of uncertainty that they experience within the merged business. Another major effect of an uncoordinated merger includes employee stress, contributed by concerns of job security due to potential layoffs after the merger. These redundancies occur because merging companies do not wish to duplicate job roles; hence by making specific job roles redundant they can rationalize costs and utilize the minimal amount of workers required in each department. This was the case between the merger of HP and Compaq which reported a job cut of approximately 15000 (Foo and Menon,2001) people, triggering increased stress levels amongst staff as to whether they would retain their job in the merger process or not. Employee stress thus tends to lower overall moral and decrease productivity in the long run due to frustration over job security, as one employee expressed from HPs Singapore branch: either way, were done for iii( Foo Menon,2001) In conclusion, employees will find it increasingly difficult to cope from the many challenges involved with a merger: due to emotional stress from feelings of fear and anxiety for job security, to loss of corporate identity due to a change of organizational culture. This could contribute to increased employee dissatisfaction with the business to those who remain in the workforce, due to negative emotions and lack of support from the business. Thus in the future, HP must address such concerns by implementing policies to help employees cope with such emotions. This could include increased communication from managers if employees were kept in constant communication with managers about changes in the overall business and were aware of re-structuring issues and redundancy potentiality, then this would reduce the impact when redundancies are issued as employees whove known about the possibility of a lay off prior would have better mental preparation. Another suggestion could include adapting the merger and acquisition process so that cultures are able to integrate more effectively increased dialogue in the form of conferences or workshops between the two merging companies would help to improve communication and overall exposure between the different business cultures to make the integration of the two companies smoother. This could help motivate employees to corporate with each other more willingly and stimulate an increased sense of new culture that benefits both previously separate companies. Conclusion and Recommendations Conclusion In conclusion, it is very much clear through these examples that employees are very dissatisfied with the way HP is operating. HP operations are disgruntling the employees and this is possibly hindering their performance, and therefore, halting progress for the entire company. Whether it is through salary adjustments, unnecessary ill treatment of employees, colossal number of employee layoffs, or massive overall change through mergers and acquisitions, HPs way of running things is displeasing the employees. Recommendations HP must find solutions to satisfy their employees more sufficiently. Dissatisfaction levels must be reduced in order to see some progress in the company. The first solution is a simple, but effective one: HP should make the work environment friendlier and more relaxed in order to gain some employee confidence. Currently, it does not appear that HP is very friendly with their employees due to the several issues discussed above, however if HP were to treat their employees better, and make the work environment more relaxed, then the employees dissatisfaction level would decrease. Another recommendation to HP would be that they should manage change amongst employees more effectively. If you look at the merger, the pay cuts, and the enormous layoffs, these are rather big changes to the company. If HP could manage this change in a more effective manner, then employees would not be as dissatisfied. HP should first and foremost warn employees of upcoming change to abolish any nervousness and ambiguity. The facts should be laid out and employees need to be made to understand them. Also, to avoid further dissatisfaction, the changes must be applied fairly, and not with any prejudice or any other sort of unfair actions. A form of manipulation could also be adapted by the company. Manipulation is not the most ethical of methods to lower dissatisfaction, but in the end, it does lower dissatisfaction. Manipulation involves twisting facts to make the situation at hand seem more attractive. False rumors are usually spread and eventually, employees accept the change and th is lower dissatisfaction.

The Scope And Limitation Of The Study An Example

The Scope And Limitation Of The Study An Example The current traditional help desk mechanisms used in UUM-CAS postgraduate help desk department at UUM are no longer enough to support the increase of the interactions between the users and the technical support employees because There is no standard and organized process for handling the users requests. This paper proposes a technical support system that can help students, staff and even lecturers at UUM Postgraduate CAS department to freely interact with the customer service employees by sending their requests and inquiries through a web-based help desk system. In the other side, this proposed system will also increase the productivity of the employees of the customer service department since each specific ticket or problem will received by a specific group of the technical support employees. In order to achieve that , we are going to use a problem tracking technique . This technique will enable the users (students, staff or lecturer) to send their inquiries to the proper person in the customer service department. Also this technique will aim to track the problem or ticket of the users until it gets their direction to the proper person of the customer service employees who will try to solve it within a convenient time. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.0 Background Nowadays, a technical support service plays a main role in a Universitys ability to assist their students , staff and lecturers who really need some information and technical support guides. In the meanwhile , Educational institutions face the challenge of providing technical support to faculty, staff, and students for answering their questions and responding to their inquiries and problems with a suitable solutions and within a convenient time. (Cruess, 2002 and Niedzwiecki Peterson, 2002). Moreover, The main goal of customer service is to provide better overall service to the customer when they contact the customer service employees, either through email, or a phone call. We want to make sure that everyone is satisfied with the first answer they receive with a correct solution in a timely manner. We want to be proactive and resolve as many issues as we can before the customer even notices that something may have gone wrong. The customer should notice an improvement in the turnarou nd time when a help request is submitted, as well as a reduction in the number of times they have to ask for help until he/she gets the solution. (Schauer Thompson, 2004). This proposed study will make an enhancement in the current technical support mechanism used by the UUM Postgraduate technical support department. It will be conducted based on Problem Tracking Technique which help to ensure consistent and quality support, track the information and problems that come into the Help Desk and assign or forward the problems to the appropriate workgroup and follow-up to make sure the problems were corrected. Problem statement Previously, by using the traditional help desk tools, the web interface was just a simple interface with an engine for generating an e-mail to our support staff. When an e-mail is sent to the [emailprotected] for example, different staff will receive it. This sometimes resulted in duplication of work since multiple people could work on the same ticket or email, or no one would handle it since some groups would assume other groups or individuals would be handling a certain email. There was no standard and organized process for handling the users requests. Sometimes no one responded right away and other times multiple people did, showing that we were not very coordinated. The same thing happens when using a traditional phone call as a tool of communicating with the customer service (Schauer Thompson, 2004). Also Recently, there have been increasing number of interactions between users and customer service employees online. Therefore employees must take great deal of time to process in quiries from customers through the Internet (Iwai, Iida, Akiyoshi Komoda, 2010). In this research we are going to concentrate on the UUM Postgraduate CAS department to be as a domain of our study. In the meanwhile, students, staff and lecturers at UUM Postgraduate CAS department have always been able to submit problem reports via e-mail, or by phone. That is still true, but the question is : How effective is the use of these tools? In fact , The current campus help desk has become the hub of support with the many spokes of user services centered on it (Cruess, 2002). Students, staff and lectures do not have to be waited and passed on from one technical support employee to another until they get the answer of their problem or inquiry. In addition, once the student sends his/her problem to the help desk department by email , it will take long time until it gets solved. Because the ticket will not send immediately to the proper person that he/she is aware of the problem that has already been sent .In this case, the number of times that they have to ask for help will increase . As a consequence, and based on the points that we mentioned previously, we proposed a web-based help desk system that can be used as a bridge between the users (students, staff, lecturer) and the technical support employee at UUM Postgraduate CAS department. In order to provide consistent and quality support to the students, staff and lecturers. In the proposed system we are going to use a problem tracking technique to track the information and problems that come from the customers into the Help Desk. In addition, assign or forward the problems to the appropriate workgroup and make sure that the problems are solved. Research Questions Based on the problem statement mentioned before, the following questions are constructed: What are the Limitations of the current UUM Postgraduate CAS help desk system? What are the techniques that we are going to use during the developing stage of the prototype of Postgraduate UUM help desk system? How can we evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed system? Research Objectives The main objective of this study is to enhance the current technical support of UUM Postgraduate department by developing an organized and significant web-based technical support system based on a problem tracking technique. In order To achieve this main objective, some sub-objectives can be formulated: To identify limitations of the current help desk system. To design and develop a prototype web-based help desk system based on problem tracking technique. To evaluate the prototype web-based help desk system based on problem tracking technique among the users. Significance of the study The proposed model will provide a significant and flexible way of communicating between the customer service at UUM and their users. Here are some significant and beneficial achievements that the proposed system is expected to provide: The system can assist the students in postgraduate department to find the solutions for routine questions through FAQ part and manage its requests by using problem tracking technique. The system will help the university to build a strong relationship with their students. Increase the productivity of the employees at work and provide faster and more convenient services to their students, staff or lecturers. All the users requests will directly send to the proper department of the customer service for finding a solution instead of sending all requests to one customer service department and then this department will try to find the suitable person who can answer the incoming request, and here we waste the time. Thus, we expect from this system to enhance the previous customer services tools and make it more effective and organized. Scope and limitation of the study This study will focus on developing a web-based help desk system using a problem tracking technique for Postgraduate UUM-CAS department at UUM. This system will let users (staff, students or lecturers) to freely interact with the technical support employees who have the ability to answer all problems related to the postgraduate services provided by the UUM-CAS. In addition, UUM-CAS postgraduate students can navigate FAQ section which contains a groups of frequently asked questions that are related to UUM-CAS Postgraduate department at UUM and they can find their problem or inquiry there. Moreover, the proposed system will help the students, lecturers, and staff at UUM-CAS postgraduate department to see the latest UUM-CAS postgraduate news and articles added by the technical support employees. The prototype to be developed is based on problem tracking technique. Organization Of The Report This report consists of six chapters which will cover the designing and the developing online help desk system for UUM-CAS postgraduate department at UUM. Here is an overview of the content of each presented chapter: Chapter One: this chapter introduces the problem, gives an overview about the study and describes the needs of help desk systems in the educational sectors. This chapter also discusses the scope of the study, the significance of the study and its objectives. Chapter Two: this chapter covers the literature review which is the previous related works that been done before. Moreover, this chapter represents relevant information for understanding the study more. Chapter Three: this chapter explains the details of the selected methodology that we are going to use in the project. Chapter Four: this chapter discusses about the prototype development and the implementation of the online help desk system for UUM-CAS postgraduate department at UUM. Chapter Five: this chapter discusses the evaluation process of the proposed help desk system. Chapter Six: this chapter discusses the conclusion, recommendations and future works to improve this study. CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction This chapter discusses the relevant help desk researches that had been done before by researchers. Moreover, this chapter presents the current techniques used by UUM-CAS technical support department also it presents the techniques that we are going to use in the proposed study including problem tracking technique. In addition , it discusses the previous researches that had been done before using this techniques. Definition of Online Help Desk System Online Helpdesk as defined by Donna Knapp in a Guide to Customer Service Skill and Helpdesk Professional is a single point of contact within a company for managing customers problem and request and providing solution oriented support services (Knapp, 2009). Online help desk is also define a Help Desk as a formal organization that provides support functions to users of the companys product, services, or technology (Wooten, 2001). Another definition has been defined by Albin who said Technical support is a service. Its about assisting pertaining to technology, especially regarding computers. It is also has to do with providing acceptable, effective and efficient resolutions(Albin, 2002). As a consequence, Helpdesk is usually known as a department within a company that responds to users technical questions or inquires. Background of Online Help Desk Often the term Helpdesk is used for internal support within the organization or for external support groups. Educational Institutions need to provide high quality of customer service and support to respond to the users inquires and problems within a convenient time . A well designed Help Desk product should have the ability for the support customer to be part of the solution by offering a searchable knowledge base of common support issues and questions and a way for customers/users to easily create their own support tickets. With a web based interface, most users are able to navigate simple web forms with fairly high success rates to submit a trouble ticket or find answers to frequently asked questions or common problems. The helpdesk is responsible for bringing an organizations resources together in order to provide its customers with quality support and service (Czengel, 2001 and Vanderlip, 2004). Thus, to be able to choose the right techniques and to use them effectively in the he lp desk system, you have to understand what customers want. Knowing this will help you make sense of the techniques youll be looking at (Bacal, 2005). Benefits of Online Help Desk System Web-based support offers an extremely wide variety of benefits. These will vary depending on factors such as the generation of the support site, the tools employed, the profile of the customer base, the services offered, and so on. Benefits typically originate from two aspects of support: Self-service Single source access The benefits of self-service On a Web-based support site, self-service refers to all information, functions, and services that customers can take advantage of on their own, without having to contact a support representative. Users might view or download information or seminars, search for solutions in a knowledge base, download a software upgrade, or check on the progress of their support log. The primary benefit of self-service is the ability to offer customers some form of support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These extended hours of support come at no additional cost. The self-service functions you offer on your site would be available around the clock. Another significant benefit of self-service is the reduction in calls to the staffed support area. This means the more calls you are able to divert from your support area to your Web-based support site, the more benefits you will gain. This can achieved by specifying FAQ part in the system which contains the most frequently asked questions which eat up mo st of technical support employees time (Czengel, 2001). The Benefits of Single Source Access A Web-based support site that contains documents such as Knowledge base, FAQs, News, and so onà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦This documents will provide users with a single source access to the service provided by the institute or the organization. Implementing Online Helpdesk System, management can have a single point of contact with the users and resolve their problems (Czengel, 2001). In addition to the two benefits that we have mentioned before there are some other important benefits of using Online Helpdesk Systems and they are as follows: Improved help desk service quality as all inquiries or problems are immediately taken action timely identification, diagnosis and resolution of problem Improved user or customer satisfaction. Providing existing users or customers with knowledge and FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) concerning the educational institutions services. 24-hour availability which means that the system is available always to receive the problems or inquiries from the users at any time and in any day. Troubleshooting features gives users or customers the ability to solve many support problems on their own. This tool provides the users or customer with an easy way of connecting with the technical support employees and within a convenient time. Serves as a tool for tracking and recording helpdesk inquiries, which provides a knowledge base of resolutions to previous calls concerning similar issues. The Potential Pitfalls of Web-based Support The potential pitfalls in Web-based support come from poor planning and implementation. A site that offers little actual value to the customers or users, no matter how visually perfect it is, is worthless. Sites that are difficult to navigate, that contain out-of-date information, that do not offer help for the most common problems, that are designed at too advanced or too simple a level for the customer base they support all fall into the worthless category. You can spend a fortune on support tools, but if you havent done a thorough job in planning and implementation, your support site will fail and you will get no payback on what you invested. Customers/users will go to alternatives such as telephone support, and getting them back to the Internet would be difficult (Czengel, 2001). Web-Based Application Web application known as an online communication services that client can access through their computer or handheld devices, this communication can be optimized via network support such as the Internet or an intranet (Grove, 2009). Problem Tracking Technique There are many researches had been done before using a Problem Tracking Technique. This technique had been used in order to improve the efficiency of using help desk systems by the users. One of the research that had been already done is a help desk system that had proposed for The Information Technology Services Department in North Dakota State University . The system allows them to track problems by assigned person, assigned group, for a specific user and many other ways. They can generate ad hoc reports to analyze problems that have occurred over a set period of time or by department as needed. Thus, For a help desk to be effective and efficient, it needs to have a proper set of tools. These tools are used to manage the incoming calls, monitor servers and network connections, track problems as they enter the help desk and are transferred to other support units, being able to view the end users screen, documentation, training and many others. User Part Once the user did not find the solution of his /her problem in the FAQ part, he/she is going to use the ticketing system which is one of the system functionality. The user will create a new ticket and include his/her inquiry or problem within this ticket. The process of creating new ticket includes several steps. At the beginning the customers must choose the section that the faced problem belongs to. For example students fees section or registration section. After that, the customer will enter his/her personal information and he can specify a priority to his/her ticket for example urgent or normal .The customer can attach a file with his/her ticket in order to explain his/her problem more (Edwards, 2010 and Kayako, 2009). Technical support employees part After the user completes the process of sending his/her ticket to the suitable group of the technical support employees, here comes the role of technical support employees to respond to this ticket .Each ticket has a status which can be Open, Waiting for reply or Closed .Once the user creates his/her new ticket and sends it to the technical support employees, the status of his/her ticket will be automatically Open since it is a new ticket. Thats mean it needs a reply from the technical support employees. After one of the technical support employees replies this ticket, he/she will change the status of this ticket to be Waiting for reply which means the ticket has been replied by the suitable technical support employee and its status now is Waiting the user to send another reply if the first answer that he/she already got is not clear enough. Suppose that the customer needs more explanation or more details about his/her problem, then after he/she got the reply from the customer servic e, the user can change the status of this ticket from Waiting for reply to be Open and send it again with his/her new inquiry to the customer service employees. The status of the ticket will automatically become closed after a period of time called DUE which is specified by the administrator of the system and it is defined as the maximum time that the ticket will be remained in case of waiting for a response from the user. That means after the expiration of this time, the status of the ticket will be closed. After this time called DUE the ticket will be closed and it will become as a read-only ticket from the side of users. In other words, the problem has been solved and does not need any reply anymore. The last thing that we want to indicate that imagine that a user has sent a ticket to the technical support employees through the system and lets answer this question: what will happen if the ticket still in the queue of the tickets queue without any answers from any technical suppor t employee? In fact this case is the worst case that it might make the user in the status of waiting for reply through unlimited time. In order to handle this problem, In the proposed system there is a part for administrators which enable the help desk managers or administrators to monitor and manage the process of ticketing system. They can view the tickets that no one has answer it and assign it to the suitable technical support employee. (Edwards, 2010; Schauer Thompson, 2004; and Kayako, 2009). Building up FAQ Building up FAQ is also an important task of help desk. The purpose of building up the FAQ is to reduce the number of inquiries that come from users. Users can browse the FAQ pages and clear up their unfamiliar matters before they send emails or tickets to the help desk employees. Help desk employees also can analyze inquiry records, construct questions and add them to the FAQ part. For example, if the help desk employees see that there are questions that come out from users several times, then they can simply organize these questions by added them to the proper group of FAQ section so the users can find it there before they send a new question which is already exists at FAQ section (Iwai, Iida, Akiyoshi Komoda, 2010 and Kayako, 2009). UUM-CAS help desk mechanisms In the meanwhile, the current technical support mechanisms used by UUM-CAS postgraduate technical support department are still limited to phone call and email as a way of communicating between users and the technical support employees. Generally, the disadvantages of using this current techniques are divided into two parts based on email or phone call. The first part of disadvantages are the problems of using phone call as a tool of providing the technical support service. The first problem of using the phone call is that the technical support employees are not always the same who answer the phone. Which means, every time you talk to different technical support employee, you should explain your problem again and again until you get the solution of your problem. The second issue of using a phone call is the wasted time that the user should wait since he/she may pass on from one technical support employee to another until he/she gets the answer of his/her problem or inquiry. The third issue appears during the registration time while the pressure on the technical support center is more comparison to other time and especially on using phone call. At that time, the user should wait on the phone until he/she can talk to the customer service employees since the phone is busy. From the other side, there are some issues comes from using the email as a way of interacting between the users and the customer service employees. First of all, it takes long time from the customer service employees side until they solve the issues since the problem will not be received from the proper technical support employee who has an infrastructure about the problem that had been sent by the users. The second thing is multiple people could work on the same email or no one would handle it since some customer service employees will assume that other employees would handle it. Thus, and as we can see there is no standard and organized way of handling with the users inquiries and problems. Chapter Summary The analysis of literature review had broadened the scope of Online Helpdesk issues. The information and findings collected form this chapter is used as a guidance to develop the Online Helpdesk system. By reviewing the UUM-CAS postgraduate help desk case study, we can conclude that helpdesk system plays an important role in the educational institutions. This chapter has also demonstrated the importance of helpdesk system in the context of UUM-CAS postgraduate help desk department. CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Introduction This chapter discusses the adopted methodology which applied to achieve the objectives of the study in designing and developing the proposed web-based help desk system for UUM-CAS help desk department. Research Methodology Research methodology plays a very important role to proceed and carry out with the whole all research study. Moreover, it is very important to choose the suitable methodology for your study in order to achieve the objectives of the study. In general, a lot of studies that had been done before use the research methodology to achieve many purposes such as gathering data and information, development and evaluation (Refsdal, 2008 Schmuller, 2002). Besides that, Research methodology step makes us fully awareness about the requirements of our study and the problem statement of the research. Thus, The methodology of this research the we are going to apply is based on the five general research steps that are proposed by Vaishnavi Kuechler. These steps includes the awareness of problems, suggestions, development, evaluation, and the conclusion of the research as they are illustrated in the Figure 3.1. The awareness of problems In this step, some important information had been gathered about the current problems and limitations of using the current traditional help desk mechanisms at UUM-CAS help desk department. This can be achieved by interviewing the students, lectures, and staff to see what are the disadvantages of using the current customer service in order to overcome it. Moreover, we can use some beneficial instruments such as questionnaire. In addition, we can collect some information from some related work that had been done before by other researchers. Thus, This step aims to identify the problems and come out with a significant and more organized solution. Suggestions The second step of the methodology of this research is to suggest building a web-based application based on problem tracking technique in order to enhance the current technical support tools used by UUM-CAS help desk department. In this phase, some flow charts and some Unified Modeling Language (UML) diagrams will be used to design the proposed prototype. The Figure 3.2 illustrates briefly the technical support operation of the proposed system: Figure 3.2: Diagram explains the proposed system Design Pattern Design patterns describe how objects communicate without become entangled in each others data models and methods. Keeping this separation has always been an objective of good OO programming, and if you have been trying to keep objects minding their own business, you are probably using some of the common design patterns already (Cooper, 2002). Why Design Pattern? Why do we need to use design pattern? Nowadays computers programs is becoming more complicated, for this reason it is important to have a way of making building software easier and less complexity. For example, SQL Server and Oracle are become the most common databases used in the meanwhile . Lets imagine that we are working in a software company and we already developed a costly system using SQL Server database and because of a certain reason the company wants to change its database server into Oracle. Does that mean we want to ignore everything has been built and start building our new system from scratch? The answer is no of course. By using a design pattern we will be able to build a system which rebuilding ability exists. As a result, we just need to change the part of code which deals with SQL Server with Oracle one. Design pattern has divided the system into layer each layer has its own job starting from the View layer and ending with the database layer and the figure 3.4 belo w is really express what i just mentioned. If we ignore using design pattern in our system , then our system simply will miss the usability technique. As the figure 3.5 shows that we should not ignore the Business tier and dealing directly with the data tier if we do so then it is hard to make changes in the application. Thus, In this case and if we want to change in one place, then we should change in many other places that are related to the change instead of make the changes in one place by using the organized design patterns. To explain how does the design pattern technique work, lets take the following scenario : Once the system has started, it will collect some configurations from configuration file about the connection string of the database and the name of Business Logic Layer DLL (BLL). That means the connection with the database will not establish until the business layer successfully retrieved the configuration from the configuration file. Business Logic Layer is responsible for retrieves data from the data layer, so the business logic layer plays the role of mediator between presentation layer and database layer. IDAL (Interface Data Access Layer) is an interface that we just need to deal with it regardless the type of database that the system works with. Hardware Requirements Of The System Since the proposed system is a web-based application, so to run the system on the web environment we need a web application server that can handle the requests that come from the users of the proposed help desk system. In addition to the web server, To run the system on the web server, it has to have the minimum hardware characteristics that enable the web server from installing dot net features such as dot net framework which is necessary to run the application on the web server smoothly and successfully. Software Requirements Of The System As we mentioned in the hardware requirements of the system, we need to install the dot net framework on the web server since the developing environment of the proposed system is Microsoft Visual Studio and this framework is necessary to run the application successfully on the server. Besides that, a web browser application is necessary to be installed which is the middle tool that will make the connection with the system application which is running on the server side. User Requirements Of The System Generally, The user of the proposed system is divided into three categories. That is, UUM users (student and lecturer), technical support employee, and administrator. Each group of the system has its role based on its authority of using the system. Since the proposed system consists of three parts ( User, Technical support employee, Administrator) , each group of the users can use the suitable part based on their authority. UUM users can use the user part of the system to submit the problems as a tickets to the customer service employees. In addition, they can see the latest news and articles added by the customer service employees and download the files that are related to UUM-CAS. While the technical support employees are responsible to respond to the tickets that come from the user part, in addition to manage the articles, news and download sections in the user part. The last part is the administrator which is responsible to manage the technical support part throw adding new group in addition to manage the technical support employees. Development A software development process is a process to build a software product or to enhance an existing one. Moreover, the Development stage of the research methodology is the most significant stage in our study since it represents the answer o